In this paper, three new species of the genus Leipothrix from China are described and illustrated: Leipothrix houttuyniae sp. nov. on Houttuynia cordata Thunb. (Saururaceae), Leipothrix rubicordis sp. nov. on Rubia cordifolia L. (Rubiaceae), Leipothrix sambucus sp. nov. on Sambucus javanica Blume (Adoxaceae). All are vagrants causing no apparent damage to their host plants. A key to species of Leipothrix in China are provided.

The morphological ontogeny of Adoristes ovatus (C.L. Koch, 1839) is described and illustrated. The adult has the interlamellar seta shorter than the lamella and the translamella is usually absent, but can also be incomplete, or present as a thin line. The juveniles are unpigmented, oval in cross-section, with thin and smooth prodorsal and gastronotal setae, and with the anal opening in the posteroventral position, which is typical of xylophages. The legs and claws of juveniles are relatively thick, especially leg I, and the leg setae are smooth or with short barbs. All juveniles have a sclerotized semicircle located anterior to each prodorsal seta le. The larva has 11 pairs of gastronotal setae, the nymphs have 12 pairs, without the d-series. The mean body length of females is larger than males, but varies greatly among samples (445–735 µm) and the largest females can be 1.5 times longer than the smallest males. The sex ratio and the number of gravid females also vary among samples. We provisionally consider Adoristes (Gordeeviella) Shtanchaeva, Subías & Arillo, 2010 a junior synonym of Adoristes Hull, 1916.

Among the 251 described species of ticks from the genus Ixodes, only eight were previously reported in Brazil, Ixodes amarali, Ixodes aragaoi, Ixodes auritulus, Ixodes fuscipes, Ixodes loricatus, Ixodes luciae, Ixodes paranaensis and Ixodes schulzei. Of those species, I. loricatus is considered commonly found, whereas I. auritulus and I. aragaoi were registered just one time in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, Southern Brazil. This paper aims to update the Ixodes species occurring in RS through the investigation of the ixodofauna of small rodents. Data from 314 wild rodents were analyzed from nine municipalities of Pampa biome and five from the Atlantic Rainforest in RS. Rodents belonging to the following species were infested by Ixodes spp. ticks: Akodon azarae, Akodon montensis, Akodon paranaensis, Akodon reigi, Calomys laucha, Delomys dorsalis, Deltamys kempi, Holochilus brasiliensis, Oligoryzomys flavescens, Oligoryzomys nigripes, Oxymycterus nasutus, Scapteromys tumidus (Cricetidae) and Cavia aperea (Caviidae). The tick identification was performed based on morphological dichotomous keys, their updates and by molecular techniques. Considering the ticks from the rodents and those collected directly from the environment, 34 specimens of Ixodes spp. were collected. Our results improved to five the list of Ixodes species that occur in RS: I. loricatus, I. auritulus, I. aragaoi, I. fuscipes and I. longiscutatus. Moreover, the finding of I. longiscutatus increases to nine the number of Ixodes species in Brazil. The occurrence of two species of the Ixodes ricinus complex (I. aragaoi and I. fuscipes) highlights the potential impact of Ixodes spp. ticks on public health.

The effects of three economically important host plants, jute (Corchorus capsularis L.), bean (Lablab purpureus L.) and papaya (Carica papaya L.), on the development, reproduction and demographic parameters of the spider mite Tetranychus truncatus Ehara (Acari: Tetranychidae) were investigated under laboratory conditions of 30 ± 1°C, 60–80% RH and a photoperiod of 16L: 8D using age-stage, two-sex life table analysis. Both male and female T. truncatus successfully completed development from egg to adult on the three host plants. The development time from egg to adult for female T. truncatus was longer on Jute than on bean and papaya. Male and female longevities were higher on jute and bean than on papaya. Fecundity of T. truncatus was higher on jute than on bean and papaya. Adult pre-oviposition period was lower on bean and the number of oviposition days were higher on jute. The net reproduction rate of T. truncatus was significantly higher on jute than on bean and papaya, whereas intrinsic rate of natural increase and the finite rate of increase were higher on bean than on the other two host plants. The mean generation time of T. truncatus was higher on jute than on bean and papaya. These results based on the intrinsic rate of natural increase indicate that jute and bean were more suitable than papaya as hosts for T. truncatus, to helping develop management and control strategies for this pest.

The interspecific competition is a widespread phenomenon among the herbivores and is an important factor in shaping the herbivore communities. Plants usually mediate competition among herbivores via induced resistance, which can affect pest density, either by altering the performance or host preference of herbivores. The strawberry plants host the two-spotted spider mites (TSSM), Tetranychus urticae Koch and greenhouse whitefly (GHWF), Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) in greenhouses. We clearly observed the adverse effect of TSSM or GHWF prevalence on colonization and outbreak of the other one, therefore the possibility exists that feeding-induced changes in plant and interspecific competition are the effective factors in shaping their densities. In this study, laboratory experiments were carried out to determine whether previous feeding by TSSM on strawberry (Camarosa variety) affects the performance and oviposition preference of GHWF (as a competitor), and vice versa. Lower egg number, and the slower development as well as delayed oviposition were observed when the pests fed on infested leaves than control leaves. Furthermore, when the pests were given the choice between the non-infested and infested leaves, both pests significantly preferred the non-infested leaves. Our study concluded that feeding-induced changes in quality of host plant adversely affected the performance and oviposition preference of both pests. We suggested that these results can help to explain the different population densities of pests in presence and absence of other species and can attract the attention of farmers to the effects of interspecific competition on the densities of pests.

In addition to true tagmata, various pseudotagmata are present in chelicerates. Greatly miniaturized and morphologically simplified phytoparasitic acariform mites of the superfamily Eriophyoidea demonstrate a distinct ability to form pseudotagmata. The prodorsum and opisthosoma are the primary divisions of the eriophyoid body. In more evolutionary derived lineages, there is a trend towards the formation of additional opisthosomal subdivisions (pseudotagmata). These subdivisions are termed here “cervix”, “postprodorsum”, “pretelosoma”, “telosoma” and “thanosoma”. Among phytoptids, only the telosomal pseudotagma is present in several sierraphytoptine genera. In diptilomiopids, pseudotagmata have not been recorded. The most diverse examples of pseudotagmatization concern vagrant mites from the family Eriophyidae. Remarkably, well developed and unusually shaped pseudotagmata are peculiar to phyllocoptines from palms, especially in the new vagrant mite Pseudotagmus africanus n. g. & n. sp., found on leaves of Hyphaene coriacea (Arecaceae) in South Africa. Pseudotagmosis is one form of body consolidation in Eriophyoidea, reducing flexibility and therefore decreasing the ability for worm-like locomotion. Consequently, the legs become more important for locomotion. The other form of body consolidation is strengthening of the exoskeleton via armoring with microtubercles, and topographical changes (e.g. formation of opisthosomal ridges and furrows). The data at hand suggest that ancestrally, eriophyoids had an elongate body comprising many annuli, which can be regarded as pseudosegments. Later, they convergently evolved various pseudotagmata via the apparent fusion of these pseudosegments. Two morphotypes of vagrant mites (“armadillo” and “pangolin”) are proposed based on the difference in the modification of dorsal opisthosomal annuli. The minimal number of dorsal annuli (six) is equal to the number of dorso-longitudinal peripheral body muscles; however, this number is unlikely to reflect the true number of segments situated behind the prodorsum in Eriophyoidea. Although legs III and IV are absent in Eriophyoidea, the cervical pseudotagmata might be reminiscent of metapodosomal segments. Future comparative myo- and neuroanatomy studies of groups of genes involved in segmentation development are necessary to reach the final conclusion on the pattern of body segmentation in Eriophyoidea.

Although the family Stigmaeidae is one of the most studied mite groups because of its economically important members, data on their morphological variations are very limited and still rather poorly studied. In the present study, asymmetric and numerical variations in the body setae occurring in some adult females and males are provided. The known data on morphological variations based on literature data are also provided.

Three new species of the genus Trachytes are described, named and illustrated from the east Mediterranean region. T. kozari sp. nov. is from Rhodes and Karpathos, T. jenseri sp. nov. from Cyprus and T. kissi sp. nov.from Eastern part of Greece.

A survey of plants in 24 areas of the Cerrado biome in the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais (Brazil) revealed a total of 34 species of phytoseiid mites belonging to 16 genera and three subfamilies of the Phytoseiidae. A new species, Neoseiulus goiano n. sp., is described and illustrated. Morphological information is provided for the species collected in this study.

The tick Dermacentor silvarum is recognized as an emerging vector of marked medical and veterinary significance. The current study investigated the gene expression profiling of the unfed nymphal D. silvarum in response to low temperature using high-throughput transcriptome sequencing. A total of approximately 12-giga base pairs were produced, which yielded 87,500 unigenes, and among them, 29,815 unigenes were successfully annotated by all available databases (NCBI nonredundant, Swissprot, UniProtKB/TrEMBL, the clusters of orthologous groups databases, the Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes database, and pfam database). After low temperature treatment (4°C for 10 days), 2,241 genes, including 1,160 up-regulated and 1,081 down-regulated genes, were differentially expressed. The differentially expressed genes were further enriched to GO terms and KEGG pathways, and our results showed that 133 genes were enriched in molecular function, 90 genes were enriched in cellular components, 107 genes were enriched in biological processes and 202 genes were assigned into different KEGG pathways. This study establishes a molecular basis for gene function analysis in the tick D. silvarum, and will provide theoretical information for mechanistic studies on the overwintering adaptations of ticks.

Two new intertidal oribatid mite species were found on the coast of Bonaire. Litoribates bonairensis sp. nov.can be distinguished from its only congener, L. caelestis, by the cerotegumental pattern and shape of sensillus. This is also the first record of the genus from the Caribbean region. Thasecazetes falcidactylus gen. nov., sp. nov. is characterized by conspicuous longitudinal notogastral ridges and sickle shaped claws and represents a new selenoribatid genus that probably shows a wider distribution within the Caribbean. Both species were found in mangrove habitats. An ecological preference for this environment may be considered. A morphometric investigation of Litoribates and Alismobates populations from the Galápagos Archipelago in the Eastern Pacific, several Caribbean areas and the Western Atlantic Bermuda Islands revealed certain remarkable facts: First, Litoribates species show a conspicuous higher size variation between the different locations than Alismobatesspecies; second, the geographic distance between the populations is reflected in the extent of divergence and third, similar variation patterns shown in Litoribates and Alismobates indicate that both taxa have experienced similar evolutionary histories in the respective geographic regions. An additional molecular genetic analysis provides barcoding sequences for the new taxa and confirms their taxonomic distinctness.

Balaustium akramii Noei sp. nov. is described and illustrated from forest soils in Sari city, Mazandaran province, Iran and from building walls and windows edges in Aydin, Turkey. A key to genera of the subfamily Balaustiinae and a key to species of Balaustium of the world (larva) are provided.

The present study is based on oribatid mite material (Acari, Oribatida) collected in 2016 from herbaceous-grassy vegetation from a ReviTec site, University of Ngaoundéré, Cameroon. A list of identified taxa, including 29species from 23 genera and 12 families, is provided; of these, one species is new to science, one species (Pseudoamerioppia barrancensis) is recorded in the Ethiopian region for the first time, and all other species are recorded in Cameroon for the first time. A new subgenus of the genus Pilizetes Sellnick, 1937 (Galumnidae), Pilizetes (Pseudopilizetes) Ermilov subgen. nov., with type species Pilizetes (Pseudopilizetes) camerunensis Ermilov sp. nov., is described. The new subgenus differs from Pilizetes (Pilizetes) by the presence of setiform notogastral setae, a complete dorsosejugal suture and bothridial setae with unilaterally dilated heads.

This study, based on a passive surveillance, has examined 21198 ticks which were detached from a number of people who received hospital consultation and service following the complaints of tick bites between the years of 2006 and 2011 in the city of Istanbul and its vicinity. The ticks have been evaluated in terms of species, developmental stage, gender, seasonal distribution, and locality as urban and rural areas. They belong to 21 species from the genera Ixodes, Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus, Haemaphysalis, Dermacentor, Argas, Ornithodoros and Otobius. The most prevalent ticks are the nymphs of Ixodes and Hyalomma, and Ixodes ricinus. While Ornithodorus lahorensis and Ixodes gibbosus have been seen on humans in Turkey for the first time, Ixodes acuminatus is a new record for the tick fauna of Turkey.

Geographical surveys of plant feeders on weeds are essential for finding species which can be studied as classical biological control agents of alien plants. Four eriophyoid species have been collected on well-known weeds surveyed on the Italian territory. A new species, Aceria verbenacae sp. nov., was found on leaf and stem deformations of Salvia verbenaca L. (Lamiaceae) and is described and illustrated. Two Phyllocoptinae species were found for the first time in Italy: Aculus mosoniensis (Ripka & Érsek) comb. nov. and Metaculus rapistri Carmona. Aculus mosoniensis was collected on leaf deformations of Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle (Simaroubaceae), whereas M. rapistri was collected on leaf and stem deformations of Isatis tinctoria L. (Brassicaceae). Finally, Aceria drabae (Nalepa) was found on deformed leaves and stems of Lepidium draba L. (Brassicaceae) in central Italy. Its previous record in Friuli Venezia Giulia was based only on symptoms observed on the host plants. Three last species are described and illustrated in details to allow morphological comparisons along with previous reports.